The Hebrew focus for the Passover focuses on its origin at the time of Moses in the Old Testament. The Hebrews' 430 year sojourn in Egypt is well known. During the final 100 years or so of that historic period, the Egyptian pharaohs began to oppress those people, finally subjecting them to slavery. When they cried out to God for deliverance, their prayers were answered through the man Moses, sent by God to bring them out of that land in a powerful way. After the pharaoh of the Exodus period refused Moses' appeal to let the Hebrews go, God caused a series of plagues to fall on Egypt. The final one of those was the death of all the firstborn of the Egyptians, even including their livestock. The Hebrews were told by Moses that they could avoid this final punishment by smearing the blood of a sacrificial lamb on the doorposts of their dwellings, thereby causing the death angel who brought this plague to "pass-over" their household. We can read about the outcome of this final event in the last few verses of (Exodus 12).

In keeping with the Lord's edict, this epochal event in Israel's history has been remembered for almost 3,500 years by the solemn observance of the Passover each year.

The Passover has also become a solemn observance for Christians, although the New Testament event relating it to Christianity has caused it to be commemorated by Christians in a way that is quite different from those who observe only its Old Testament formulation. When Jesus Christ began His ministry, John the Baptist declared that He was "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1.29). Therefore, it could almost be expected that His sacrificial death, initially enabling Israel's deliverance out of sin, would in some way be associated with the death of those Old Testament sacrificial lambs who enabled Israel's deliverance out of Egypt. Indeed, Jesus certified the reality of this association during the Passover celebration held with His disciples on the evening before His crucifixion.

For Christians, this first century Passover ordinance has become known as the "Lord's Supper" or "Communion", and has become a periodic celebration in Christian churches based on the following instructions in one of the New Testament letters to the churches.

Accordingly, this Lord's Supper version of the Passover recognizing its New Covenant significance, has been instituted into Christian worship as a solemn ordinance since the first century.

Many things have happened since the first century. One of those is the creation of a day called "Easter" to signify the Sunday resurrection of Jesus Christ. As it has evolved down through the centuries in the secular world with Easter egg hunts and the like, it has become a corruption of its original purpose, and unfortunately the aura of its origin and association with early pagan celebrations have made it liable to sharp attacks by critics of the Bible and of Christianity in ways like the following.

The tenor of this article is obvious; it intends to discredit and defame the fundamental precepts set down in the New Testament, by alleging that Easter and Jesus' resurrection which it celebrates, are both derived from pagan culture.

Now it will not be the purpose of this Web Forum editorial to try to defend Easter as a proper time for the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The facts of His life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection rest on far more substantial grounds, for they may all be validated on the basis of the Bible coupled with solid historic evidence, by anyone who is willing to approach the subject objectively.  As for the existence of Easter, its present-day reality is probably best explained in the form of reasons rather than  justifications. I believe some of these reasons may be summarized in the following way.

• Following the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem and other major cities in Israel by the Romans, that nation essentially ceased to exist. The Jewish, Messianic arm of the Christian church, had remained in Jerusalem during the Apostolic period leading up to Israel's destruction, so it was destroyed along with everything else. This single event gave rise to the sudden predominance of Gentile forms of Christianity, as it became increasingly disenfranchised  from its Jewish origin following Pentecost and the Apostolic period.
  

• Following the unsuccessful AD 132-135 Bar Kochba revolt by the Jews, their very existence in Palestine became untenable, and anyone associated with Judaism, directly or indirectly, became suspect by the Roman Empire. 
  

• During this same time frame, Christians were also experiencing severe persecution by the Romans, because they refused to bow their knee to the Roman emperors as "lord", maintaining that their only Lord was Jesus Christ.
  

• Changes from the Levitical to the Gentile calendar of events like the resurrection were made prior to AD 325, after which time the emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, making it the only official state religion.

Hence we have in this roughly 250 year chronology of history, one possible way to explain (but not necessarily justify) the reasons for the kinds of date substitutions that occurred. Let's put this era in more personal terms. If you had been a Christian during those early centuries, would you have stubbornly maintained your loyalty to the observance of Levitical dates, thereby associating you with Judaism in the eyes of the Romans, when such a position would only further infuriate fellow Gentiles, who already considered you to be disloyal by virtue of your refusal to worship the reigning emperors? 

Your likely response to this question could even have been defended with Scriptures like the following.

In any event, whatever may be thought about the validity of the reasons or grounds for changing the resurrection date from Passover First Fruits to Easter, it must be agreed that the change has further complicated the disconnect already present between modern-day Christianity and its Jewish origin. Consequently, if we are in quest of the truth concerning that connection, we must be willing to search for some other modern-day reference to which this event may be related, so as to put it in a proper Biblical context. 

As we shall presently discover, the best way to do this is to relate the Christian concept of Easter to the modern-day Jewish observance of the Passover.

Jews worldwide observe the "Passover Haggadah", the appended word meaning, "to tell" the story of the Passover. There are presently over 1,200 different versions of the Haggadah ritual. Of those, I have personally attended several different types, by the following account.

• In 1984, I had just completed two courses related to the history, geography, and archaeology of Israel up to modern times. Since Passover happened to fall on a Friday in that year, the college held a Passover Haggadah which stressed the historicity of the events leading up to and including Messiah's resurrection. Since the college was located in Jerusalem, we were able to study and walk along the very spots at the very times when those events occurred.
  

• About two years later, I attended a strictly Jewish Haggadah held in the Jewish student union building at the University of Maryland. Of course, that Haggadah made no reference to the first century coming of Messiah.
  

• Then about eight years ago, I attended a third type of Passover Haggadah in the home church of a local Messianic Jewish assembly.
  

• Finally, about three years ago, the local church where I attend held a Passover Haggadah, but oriented more from the perspective and education of Gentile Christians. 

Consequently, these differing experiences have provided a better overall understanding of the way the Passover Haggadah is conducted among groups of people who approach this observance from diverse theological perspectives. Nevertheless, it was enlightening to learn that there were still many common features within all four Haggadahs, and that some of those features could be related to specific New Testament texts describing the "Last Supper" Passover observance by Jesus and His disciples. The following is the complete order of the Passover observances common to all four modern-day Haggadahs, with those New Testament Scriptures inserted and highlighted in yellow, at those steps where they also appeared in the Last Supper Haggadah conducted by Jesus Christ on that Passover eve just before His crucifixion.

1. The Kiddush 
   (drinking of the first cup of wine called "Sanctification")

2. The Urchatz  
   (washing of the hands - It was an ancient custom in the Middle East to wash one's hands before eating. In the days of Messiah, it was customary for a servant to perform this task of washing, at which time both hands and feet were washed)

3. The Karpas 
   (dipping of parsley in salt water, signifying tears shed in Egypt and the Red Sea)

4. The yachutz 
   (breaking of the middle piece of three matzahs named "Unity", and hiding half of that middle piece called the "Afikomen")

5. The Maggid 
   (retelling the story of the Exodus with the matzahs uncovered in prayer)

6. The Four Questions 
   (youngest member of the group asking the oldest why this night is different) 

7. The Four Sons 
   (questions about the Exodus by the "wise", "wicked", "innocent", and "ignorant" sons)

8. The Ten Plagues 
   (brief historical account of the Jewish people and recounting of their deliverance from Egypt)

9. Pesach 
   (recounting the significance of the Passover lamb as Israel's means of redemption from Egypt)

10. Matzah 
    (explaining the unleavened bread as signifying the urgency of the Hebrews' flight from Egypt)

11. Maror 
    (eating of this bitter herb to signify remembrance of Israel's Egyptian servitude)

12. The Hallel 
    (drinking of the second cup of wine called "Judgement")

13. The Rachatz 
    (washing of the hands)

14. Motzi, Matzot 
    (breaking and eating of the upper and middle matzahs)

15. Maror 
    (eating of this bitter herb to signify persecution and suffering under the Egyptian Pharaoh)

16. Korekh 
    (eating of the bitter herbs and charoseth to signify first the suffering of Egyptian slavery, and also the mortar used to make the clay bricks used during Egyptian servitude) 

17. Shulchan Orech 
    (The Passover Supper proper)

18. Tzaphun  
    (finding of the "Afikomen" hidden in step 4 by children, and its eating by each member of the group. In ancient times, the eating of the Paschal Lamb was the final food of the Seder feast, but after the destruction of the Temple and end of the sacrificial system, the Afikomen has become the substitute for the Paschal Lamb in the Haggadah ceremony.)

19. The Birka Hamazon 
    (blessing after the meal)

20. Ha-Geulah  
    (drinking of the third cup of wine called "Redemption")

21. Elijah's Place 
    (filling of Elijah's cup with the door opened, then closed)

22. Hallel 
    (drinking of the fourth cup of wine called "Praise")

23. The singing of Hallel Psalms

It is clear that all kinds of symbolism is woven into the Passover Haggadah. For example, the four cups of wine named "Sanctification", "Judgement", "Redemption", and "Praise" refer to the four "I wills" recorded in (Exodus 6.6-7). The main body of the Passover Haggadah in steps 3-16, preceding the meal itself, is intended primarily to remind the participants of Israel's special history by reviewing the way that God brought them into existence, remembered them during their Egyptian slavery, them delivered them by a powerful hand to become His special people.

One curious anomaly in the ceremony occurs in step 21 with the setting of "Elijah's Place". Elijah seems a little out of order in this ceremony, because he was a prophet who ministered about 600 years after the  time of the Exodus. However his name does appear in prophecy as the forerunner to come just before the Lord's Day of Judgement (Malachi 4.5). This is the reason why Jewish leaders questioned the identity of John the Baptist, asking if he were Elijah (John 1.19-23). Of course those first century Jews rejected their Messiah, and that mindset has prevailed throughout the Church Age, so the present Passover Haggadah must still await the coming of "Elijah" to inform the Jews that the time of Judgement has come.

Surely the most intriguing aspect of the Passover Haggadah is its direct connections with that first century Lord's Supper recorded in the New Testament. Those New Testament links are particularly revealing when correlated with the corresponding steps of the Haggadah as seen above, for they enable several conclusions of both a historic and prophetic nature.

The original Passover Haggadah was brief; succeeding generations have added their interpretations, legends, and traditions as suggested by the absence of Last Supper links corresponding to steps 3-16. Yet of these, step 4 bears special attention, for it is also related to step 18, which involves the eating of the "Afikomen", earlier identified in step 4. Especially strange is the name "Unity" ascribed to the three sections of matzah in step 4, because there are obviously three pieces, not one. Moreover, it is only the middle piece that is broken, then half of it hidden. Although strict Jewish Haggadahs include these steps, the reason why this middle matzah is broken and hidden is not explained in Jewish legend or tradition. Its underlying meaning becomes clear only when the corresponding account of the New Testament Last Supper is juxtaposed with step 18, for it is then discovered that it was at that very point in the Haggadah when Jesus identified Himself with the "Afikomen"! Thus by this single declaration, we can reconstruct the entire symbolism intended by steps 4 and 18.

The three matzahs named "Unity" must symbolize the triune nature of the Godhead, i.e. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The middle matzah, which is broken, striped, and pierced, must then symbolize the Son who is the second person of the Godhead, and who suffered those very things during His trial and crucifixion. 

The fact that the middle matzah was hidden and found later by children must symbolize the fact that those who come to God must come in simplicity and humility, as little children.

Of course, the substitution of the "Afikomen" for the ancient Paschal Lamb is in keeping with the fact that Jesus the Messiah came into the world to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

We must conclude that the Passover Haggadah as it is conducted in modern times, contains specific steps within it symbolic of the first coming of Jesus the Messiah. They were injected into the ritual, apparently at the time of the New Testament Last Supper, and then maintained in the Haggadah down through the centuries right up to the present time. Surely we can see in this subtle evidence of God's presence,  a way He has provided for us to bond with our past, while subliminally causing everyone who celebrates the observance to honor His Son.

Topic: Passover Haggadah and Jesus Christ: Are they related?
Name: Judy
B1: Submit
Date: April 02, 2001
Time: 07:22 PM

Comments:

I really enjoyed this! Communion has always been so SPECIAL to me, but I never really knew the history behind it. This is wonderful! I love reading everything you do! Thank you for such a wonderful site!